


Make Way for Tomorrow

by ayuwensayk



Series: Tickets to Kill a Prince [1]
Category: Marvel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-15
Updated: 2013-01-21
Packaged: 2017-11-25 14:23:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/639783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayuwensayk/pseuds/ayuwensayk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Howard seeks the aid of various friends to help save his Kingdom from a terrible tyrant to invaders who would take his land.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Scarlet Egg

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheBlackDress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBlackDress/gifts).



> This is sort of the prologue to another story written for TheBlackDress. Her ideas inspired me to write the back ground story and I decided to post it first. Beta'd by infinityinmirrors, thank you btw for your suggestions, you are brilliant.

The orb was glowing emerald green, floating images of a terrible future playing within. Howard stood transfixed at the sight, watching as his unborn son was ripped apart by unseen foes that also tore at Howard's own beaten heart.

"What is this, Witch?" Howard forced himself to utter, still watching the demise of his kingdom and the death of a son he had yet to ever love. It reminded him of the death of his first born, and the memory and the scene before him seemed to overlap in his mind and keep him unmoving from his place at the witch's table.  
"Answer me damnit!" He yelled as he looked away from the ghostly images in the orb and into the burning scarlet eyes of the witch before him.  
"You asked for future sight, my Lord. You entered upon the realm of my Father, Lord Magneto, searching for the future of your kingdom. This is what you seek. This is the answer to your question. The future of your kingdom rests in the hands of your unborn child, whom will eventually fail you."  
"This cannot be, Witch! I am neither a father nor a husband any longer. That privilege was stolen from me with the death of my beloved and our still born child. This future you insist is mine cannot be!"  
"I assure you Lord Stark, this is your future."  
Howard, still unbelieving and wallowing in more emotions than a human should be able to feel at one time, swept his eyes over the young witch's face. Her expression was honest with the cold hard truth, yet her tone was sad.  
"This is your war my Lord and it will last a life time. Your enemies will never yield to you. You must have expected consequences to your action of taking the throne in your realm. Your land is the most productive, your cities are metropolitan, your technologies and weapons the most advanced. You must be aware of the temptation that puts on war lords from all kingdoms to come and win your land for their own Kings."

Howard slumped back down into his chair, eyes fixed again on the green images of all he had built coming to destruction. The witch's words rang true, striking a deep chord of fear inside him. It whispered threats of cold nights and even colder days of coming wars, of the pounding of war drums, the clanging of sword fights, the singing of last breathes and the image of a younger him with bright eyes and cunning smile going into war but not coming back. His ears rang and his eyes itched from starring at the orb for so long, starring at the son who looked so much like him, who fought valiantly for his people and his lands and ultimately failing. With a dry mouth and shaking hands, Howard found himself pleading with the Scarlet Witch.

"How do I stop this? Please, for my kingdom and for my people. For my son not yet born, how can this be prevented?" Warm tears paint Howard's face, his pleading desperate. When had he become so? He moved his eyes from the orb - now white and filled with smoke - and back into the scarlet eyes of the witch.  
"There must be a, a way to stop this or help defuel it, at least for a while.”  
The witch's scarlet eyes sang a symphony of sorrow for the young King and his homeland. She looked deep into his brown eyes and saw his raw need to save his land and his people and an unborn son destined to die young in battle.  
"There is no way to prevent fate from happening, but there might be a way of ensuring your side an equal footing in this fight."  
The glimmer of hope suddenly presented before him made Howard spring back to life and he sat up in full attention in his chair.  
"How? Tell me what must be done to ensure this.” He begged, and the Witch leaned forward with the information Howard desperately needed.

Later, with a heart led heavy by all his answers yet carrying more questions, Howard left the Scarlet Witch's realm of Genosha and hurried home in an attempt to save all that he had worked to achieve.


	2. Cold Hearted Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twenty years before Howard's meeting with the Scarlet Witch in chapter one.  
> or  
> Prologue to the Prologue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you infinityinmirrors for your betaing skills. You always have the greatest suggestions :)  
> and  
> TheBlackDress I hope your are enjoying this!

Born into the house Stark, Howard was of the extended family of the sovereign. This fact did not matter one bit as the Insane King lived at the expense of all else: his land, his people and his own family. Claiming possessions as his own without the counsel of his appointed advisers. Taking land that did not belong to him and abducting young women to feed his midnight hunger. He held battles to the death between his guards and peasants who ‘disrespected’ him. Sitting on his throne - big enough to seat three grown man, yet leaving no room for his son - as his kingdom wilted and rotted around him, in spite of him, because of him. His greed and growing need for everything sucked his kingdom dry, disgracing his house and dooming his people to a slow downfall. His own son withering away at the age of four and being left for the vultures to pick at, at their will, due to his own gluttony. He didn’t even realise. Yes, this king of the house Stark, of the realm Stark, was very nearly insane indeed. 

And yet these vile happenings were only the beginning, the worst was still to come. For the Insane King was a sorcerer too. And for all his shortcomings and failings as a king he made up for them with magic and sorcery. He made a frequent habit of conjuring spirits, ghosts and ghouls to do his bidding. Allowing these awful beings to possess those within his court in order to appease his wicked will. His subjects began to believe him to be possessed by countless spirits himself, and thus giving reason to his vile ways. 

But for all the power that he possessed, the Insane King never attempted to use used it for good, neither for the sake of his people nor for the health of his land. Thus one could not blame his affliction on the mischief of a ghoul, but only on the greed of a man. He was a self-centred and self-indulgent man who used his sorcery only for personal gain and amusement, not because he was evil or a trickster, but merely because he could. The might of the power that he held consumed him from within, decaying his heart and rotting his soul until he was a man no longer. He existed only as a diseased shell of a man tormented by the dark cold hands of death.

 

Howard being born into the monarchy didn’t save him from the poverty and decay that ran deep within the kingdom. Despite whole families dying of famine, Howard made it to his ten and sixth year, finally becoming a man and joining the king’s guard, silently promising himself and the people of the Stark Kingdom that one day this blight upon the land and all the people living off it would come to an end, a mere memory of times never to be repeated. 

Over the next three years of training directly under the Insane Kings Commander of the Guard, he witnessed things a young man should never have to. Decaying bodies of the dead, whose families were either to sick or to dead themselves to bury them. Rabid dogs feeding on the remaining flesh on the bodies of those children long gone. Brother turning on brother and sister on sister for scraps and crumbs, and parents turning to cannibalism after disease and famine took their young. Yes, Howard was witness to a great deal of terrible things, things not even nightmares are made of. However, this did not weaken his resolve, only strengthened it within him, learning and training so that one day - when he was in a position of power - he could make a positive change and turn it around. 

It was in his second tenth year, or his fourth year in the guard, that Howard, along with another recruit going by the name of Nicholas Furro, was recruited into a newly developed elite guard known as the King’s Shield. Both men were chosen as they showed excellent skill in all areas, from combat to strategy and planning and both excelled when it came to attribute such as intelligence and intuition.  
The King’s Shield was set up as a small Special Forces unit above all other government services. It was initially established as a team of thirty soldiers whose sole purpose it was to provide extra protection for the King as multiple assassinations attempts failed and assassination plots were foiled. However, after the twelfth attempt on his life was averted by the King himself, killing the assailant by breaking his neck from hundred feet away, it was clear that they were not needed as protection. The King could and would keep himself safe and alive, much to the displeasure of his guards’. 

From then on the King’s Shield became independent from his Guard, evolving into an elite and highly specialised unit, dealing with everything from assassinations to basic detective work. They infiltrated the King’s enemies and corrupted them from within until they were all but destroyed and no longer a threat to the Insane King and his games. 

Howard, despite his distaste serving the King, worked hard to keep his position within the Shield, making himself invaluable and securing his place close to the King, so that when the time came he was able to sever the Kings cold grip on the land and free the people within. That time came much sooner than he anticipated.


End file.
